Adjusting image brightness

You can use the Brightness tool to adjust an image's brightness, contrast, and gamma. You can save your options as a preset for future use.

To adjust an image's light levels:

1. In Edit Mode, on the Edit panel, click Exposure, and then select the Brightness tab.

2. Drag the Exposure slider to the right to add light to the darkest areas of the image.

3. Drag the Contrast slider to the left to decrease contrast or to the right to increase contrast.

4. Drag the Gamma slider to the right to add light to all areas of the image.

5. Do one of the following:

6. Click Apply to apply your changes and set options on another tab.

7. Click Done to apply your changes and close the Brightness tool.

8. Click Cancel to discard all changes and close the tool.

A brief technical explanation of eV

eV stands for exposure value. When you capture an image, the exposure is determined by the f-stop, or aperture, and the shutter speed. Typically, the camera automatically determines the optimal exposure based on a built-in light meter and then sets the f-stop and shutter speed accordingly. However, the light meter can be fooled by a bright sky or dark surroundings, leading it to choose an incorrect f-stop and shutter speed, resulting in an under- or over-exposed image. With the exposure slider of the Brightness tool you can compensate for exposure problems caused by incorrect settings when the image was captured.

For example, imagine that you capture an image at F4 with a shutter speed of 1/125 seconds. If you drag the Exposure slider to the left by -1eV you will effectively reduce the amount of light in the image by increasing the f-stop to F5.6 and the shutter speed to 1/250 seconds. If you drag the Exposure slider to the right by +1eV you will effectively increase the amount of light in the image by reducing the f-stop to F2.8 and the shutter speed to 1/60.

Related topics

• Using Edit Mode